A Day in the Life of a Doll
by UnmovingGreatLibrary
Summary: Sequel to The Dollmaker's Daughter. Sunshine's continuing adventures as she explores Gensokyo, meets new people, and generally enjoys being a kid.


**A quite note to start: **So, it only took an entire year, but the sequel is officially started now. \o/ Like the summary says, this specific fic will mostly be a slice-of-life series focusing on daily events. If I get the urge to introduce any larger changes, those will probably happen in additional stories. For now, I'll be updating this irregularly, whenever the mood strikes me. Thanks for reading!

* * *

><p>Alice turns the doll over in her hands, giving the delicate joints a final inspection. They stay stiffly locked, which only contributes to its weird, unnatural look. With a bald head, a featureless torso, and dark, empty eye sockets, the thing looks a little creepy. "She looks good so far," Alice says, and sits the doll on the workbench. From a nearby shelf, she grabs a box made of a dark wood and covered in baroque engravings. Opening it up, she reveals dozens of tiny eyes, in every color of the rainbow. They're sorted into pairs, each one in a little velvet cubby to keep them from scratching each other. "What color do you think her eyes should be?"<p>

"Um." Sunshine leans forward and pushes herself up against the edge of the table to look at the options. This seems like a really important decision to her. She's spent the past few days thinking about it, and still isn't sure. Soon though, a pair in the corner catches her attention, and she points to them.

"Those ones?" Alice says. When Sunshine nods in response, she gently prompts, "Can you say it?"

"I. Um. I want... those ones. Please."

"Very good. Do you know what color that is?"

Sunshine squints at the eyes. Springing all these questions on her without warning doesn't seem fair, but she still doesn't want to disappoint. "Violet?"

"You're close," Alice says, and coaxes the unfinished doll's chin up, letting her slide one of the eyes into an empty socket. "It's lavender, actually. I think it's a nice color." Once the eye is in place, she adjusts it until it's pointing forward, then repeats the process with the other one. "There, now it's time for her mouth. Would you like to paint it, or should I?"

"I can."

"Mmh, well." Alice closes the box of eyes and slides it back into its spot on the neatly-organized workbench, then grabs a pot of paint and pulls a small brush from a holder. As she opens the paint, she says, "It's hard, so it's okay if you'd like me to do it."

"Uh-uh. I want to," Sunshine says, already reaching for the brush. "She's my doll."

"Okay..." Alice hands the brush over, then guides Sunshine's fingers into the right position on its handle. "Make sure to wipe off the extra paint... there you go. Do you remember how the mouths look on the other dolls? That's what we're trying to do."

"Mmhm." Sunshine's lips purse in concentration as she slowly lowers the brush to the doll's face. The mouth comes out just a little wobbly and with a slight hook at one end, but she's still beaming when she lifts the brush away and looks to Alice for approval.

"That's... very good," Alice says, resisting the perfectionist urge to repaint it herself. She settles for grabbing a cloth to wipe a few extra drips of paint away from the edges. Sunshine blows on the drying mouth as Alice rinses the brush off. "Now, have you thought about what color her hair should be?"

Sunshine hasn't even gotten that far in her plans. She freezes, staring into space and completely overwhelmed with indecision, until Alice slides a different box onto the workbench. Pulling it open, she reveals a collection of doll hair, each one a little wig perched atop a tiny dome to keep them organized. The color selection is a bit tamer than the eyes, but there are still plenty for Sunshine to choose from. She taps a bronze-colored one, and at a familiar, prompting look from Alice, says, "This one. Please."

Alice nods and lifts the tiny wig, then settles it on the doll's head. With the addition of hair, eyes, and a mouth, it's almost presentable apart from being naked. After closing the box and sliding it away, she looks down to Sunshine. "There. All that's left is the dress. Did you finish it?"

"Mmhm!" Sunshine's been looking forward to this part the most. She's always known the basics of sewing, since it's one of the most common tasks that Alice has her dolls perform, but doing it for herself was an exciting new experience. Alice had given her a plain doll dress to start with, with a small box of trimmings that she could use to decorate it herself. She'd spent days getting it perfect. Hurrying over to the corner of the workshop, she tugs her coat off its peg, then digs the neatly-folded dress out of the pocket. Before she's even halfway across the room again, she's holding it up proudly. It might have started off as a normal white doll dress, but yesterday Sunshine sewed a dozen multicolored bows around the skirt, along with a larger green one, meant for human-sized outfits, at the small of the back. She'd wanted to add a scabbard, but Alice wasn't quite ready to give her _that_ much freedom.

Alice inspects the thing. "It's very... colorful," she says, in that carefully neutral tone of approval that parents quickly learn to cultivate.

Sunshine nods excitedly. "Um, on the back. There's a green one," she says, pointing to it. "It's really big."

"Yes, I see. Would you like to put it on her?"

Sunshine doesn't even wait to answer before she leans over the bench, dress in hand. At a gesture from Alice, the doll raises her arms, and Sunshine pulls the dress into place. Once it's on, she takes a few seconds to adjust it, then steps back and admires her handiwork.

"Do you think she should have a bow in her hair?" Alice asks, and when Sunshine nods in response, pulls one last box out, filled with spools of ribbon. "What color do you think it should be?"

"Um." Sunshine looks over the options, comparing them to the clothes that the doll is already wearing. "White."

"White it is, then." Alice pulls a length of ribbon off the spool, then cuts it. Gathering the doll's hair up, she starts tying a bow at the base. As she works, she says, "Have you thought of a name for her yet?"

"No." Sunshine purses her lips. "Um. What names are good?"

"All of _my_ dolls are named after places in the outside world. I could tell you some girls' names from my home country, or you could pick a Japanese name..."

Sunshine considers this. She doesn't think that her doll should have the same name as anybody else, so she doesn't like those suggestions. Way back when she chose her own name, she picked something that Alice likes. Since this will be her doll, she should name it after something _she_ likes, but naming her doll Sword, Cake, Pencil, Book, or Moon all seem a little weird. "... Ichigo!"

"... she doesn't look like much of a strawberry, does she?"

"No. But that's her name."

"Hmm. Okay, then. Ichigo it is." With a few final adjustments, the bow is in place. "There. All done," Alice says, and looks over the results. Red-brown hair, violet eyes, and a white-and-rainbow dress. It's not quite as bad as she'd feared, but she's already planning how to politely deny involvement with its creation if anybody asks. Sunshine's staring at it with a grin on her face, though, and that's all that matters, really.

"Can I move her now?"

"Yes." Alice says. "She's all yours. Do you know how to give her commands...?" The look that Sunshine gives her is all the answer she needs. "... right, I guess you would. She can shoot, but even though her bullets won't hurt anybody, I don't want you doing it inside the house or having her shoot people, okay? We'll talk about that later."

"Okay," Sunshine says, and turns to the doll. "Come on, let me show you my room!"

* * *

><p>Alice's workshop is now located in a small building in the back yard, raised almost overnight thanks to the magic of doll labor. Further away, at a safe blast radius from the house, is a matching workshop for Marisa. Both of their roofs are piled high with the first heavy snow of the winter, and the yard is pockmarked with footprints from the hours that Sunshine has already spent playing in it.<p>

There are more important things to do than play right now, though. Sunshine hitches up her dress, and the snow crunches under her feet as she stomps through it on her way to the house. She'd like to just fly over it, but flying makes her get tired quickly, and she has a lot of big plans for today. Once she steps inside, she stomps her boots clean, slides them off, and rises up on her tiptoes to hang her coat on a peg by the door before she hurries deeper into the house.

Sunshine's bedroom still has scars proving that it used to be Alice's former workshop. The air smells lightly of sawdust, smoke, and old books, and the wooden floor still has scuff marks showing where heavier shelves and benches used to sit. The walls have been painted a cheery pastel yellow, and in the few weeks that she's had it, it's already started filling up with possessions.

"Um," Sunshine says, and looks around, considering where to start.

"This is my books." She points to a small bookshelf in the corner, with a single shelf filled with neatly-arranged children's books. Ichigo looks at it dutifully.

"This is my bed." Her bed is new enough that it still smells lightly of wood lacquer. It's been kept very neatly made.

"This is my toy box." Sunshine opens it so that Ichigo can view the contents. Inside are a wooden sword, a top, a bag of marbles, a pinwheel, a boxed-up doll-sized tea set, another box with tiny wooden soldiers, and a rubber ball. Once she's satisfied that Ichigo has had enough time to see everything, she closes the lid, then looks around her room again.

"Oh, um." Sitting on the edge of the dresser is a Shanghai doll in a yellow dress, missing one forearm. Sunshine carefully slides her hands under its armpits and lifts it up for Ichigo's inspection. "This used to be me. But then I got smart, and my moms made me big. If _you_ get smart, they'll, um. They'll probably make you big too. And then I'd have a little sister. And I think that would be fun." Putting together all those words is hard. Sunshine hopefully watches Ichigo for a reaction, but if Ichigo thinks that this sounds fun, she certainly isn't showing it. With a sigh, Sunshine sits her tiny body back on the dresser. "Well. If you feel like you're getting smart later... let me know."

It's an offer that she's already extended to every one of Alice's dolls, but to no avail. Alice has already warned her a few times not to get her hopes up, but as far as Sunshine is concerned, if it happened once, it could happen again.

"Um. You're my doll. So you're supposed to help me with stuff," Sunshine says, and looks around the room. She's not sure what she needs help with, really. Alice's dolls always help with cooking and cleaning, but she doesn't have a lot of those to do. After some thought, she opens her dresser, pulls out a double-handful of socks, and drops them on the floor. "... pick up my clothes."

Without so much as a nod in response, Ichigo hovers down and starts ferrying the socks back to the drawer. Sunshine watches this without as much satisfaction as she'd hoped for. It hasn't been very long since she was a normal doll. Months ago, that sort of thing had been her entire life. Even though she'd enjoyed it at the time, it still feels weird to be on this end of the exchange. Or... maybe 'disappointing' is the word. When _s__he_ was _Alice's_ doll, carrying out Alice's will was her entire world. It's strange to find out that she can give orders so casually. Something so important should feel important.

Soon enough, all of the socks are put away, and Sunshine scoops Ichigo up and gives the doll a hug. Disappointment is no excuse for being mean. "Good job. You're a good doll, Ichigo," she says earnestly.

Before Sunshine can think of something else for Ichigo to do for her, she's interrupted by the sound of the door closing out in the main room. This is followed by a few seconds of somebody stomping snow off of their boots, followed by a shout of, "Hey, are you guys ready to leave?"

"That's my other mom," Sunshine explains to Ichigo. "You can meet her too!"

* * *

><p>"Hey, you finished her!" As soon as Sunshine is close enough, Marisa scoops her up and gives her a peck on the cheek. "She's really, uh... got lots of colors, huh?"<p>

Sunshine nods at that, then gestures the doll forward. Ichigo floats closer and stiffly bows to Marisa. "Her name is Ichigo."

"Ichigo, huh? Pleased to meet ya." Marisa reaches forward, taking the doll's tiny hand between two fingers, and gives her a very light handshake before looking back to Sunshine. "Are you all set to head to the shrine?"

"Mmhm."

"Good. I'll go grab Alice, so why don't you start getting ready?"

Getting ready is its own little challenge. Sunshine's wardrobe used to consist of a single dress and a pair of shoes, but it's been growing by leaps and bounds recently; she's suddenly the owner of socks, underwear, gloves, hats, scarves, dresses, shirts, skirts, shoes, boots, and coats. She hadn't been too sure about the thicker clothes at first, but after the late December chill had set in, she'd learned to accept them pretty quickly.

On top of her yellow dress go white socks, black shoes, black gloves, a white coat, a red scarf, and a white knit cap. Sunshine feels like she's barely visible under all of it, but it keeps her from feeling cold when she walks outside and trudges through the snow back to Alice's workshop, with Ichigo in her arms.

* * *

><p>The flight to the shrine is much, much less fun now that it's cold. On long trips, Sunshine rides behind Marisa on her broomstick. Usually, Marisa would fill half the ride with loops, barrel rolls, and dives, keeping Sunshine squealing with delight the whole way. Today, though, it's too cold for any of those. Sunshine clings tightly to Marisa, with her face buried against her mother's back to shield it from the cold air whipping past them. Behind her, Ichigo is latched onto the broomstick, while Alice flies behind the three of them with her own escort of dolls.<p>

From the air, the Hakurei shrine looks nearly abandoned. The roof and grounds are piled high with snow, and the torii are almost hidden under a thick layer of it, too. Only the swept path up to the donation box and the thin pillar of smoke coming from the chimney attest to life.

The three land, and Marisa walks up to the donation box, rings the bell, and bows her head with a couple of halfhearted claps. Sunshine watches curiously. When Marisa finishes, she looks back. "Do you know how to do it?"

"Um." Sunshine looks at the box uncertainly. "What is it?"

"It's, you know. To get the gods to give you good luck 'n stuff."

"Oh."

Marisa turns back toward the box, then mimes the process again. "See, you ring the bell, then clap and bow and think about stuff you want or whatever, and the gods'll—"

"You missed the step about leaving an offering."

Reimu's voice makes the three turn around. The shrine maiden is standing on the path leaning toward the human village, as bundled up as she ever gets in a scarf. She and Marisa hold each other's gazes for several seconds, and even Sunshine senses a little tension. Miraculously, Marisa is the first one to cave, and she digs in several pockets before finding a few grubby coins to drop into Sunshine's hands. "... right, yeah. And put this in the box." A bit more quietly, she adds, "I guess."

Sunshine does as she was told. She steps forward, drops the coins in the box—they make a lonely, lonely sound as they impact against the bottom—rings the bell, and claps her hands twice. She can't decide on anything to pray for, though. Up until a few weeks ago, all of her belongings were a few picture books, a pencil, a pen, an ink well, a handful of toys, and a few changes of clothes. Now she has an entire _room_ just for her stuff. She can't imagine having more. After some deliberation, she instead wishes to get to go on an adventure like her parents, possibly with a dragon involved.

Once she's lingered in prayer for a suitably somber-feeling amount of time, Sunshine straightens up, and Reimu approaches, smiling. "_You_ look bigger than I remember."

Sunshine shies away to hide behind Marisa. Peeking around her, she nods.

"Heh. She's still kinda shy, I guess," Marisa says, and stuffs her hands in her pockets. "Anyway, wanna invite us in? It's freezing out here."

"Inviting yourself in anyway just makes me want to say no..." Reimu says, but drops the subject. "You did donate a little, I guess. That's at least worth a cup of tea. You can come in and warm up, but I don't want you doing anything weird that will scare off other people. New Year's donations are a lot of my income."

* * *

><p>Reimu doesn't have sugar for the tea. Without that, it tastes too bitter to Sunshine, so she only sips at just enough of it to be polite as the four sit around her kotatsu. Thankfully, Alice thought to bring her pencil and paper, so she's able to draw while the adults make conversation. Sunshine does her best to listen to it, but a lot of it goes over her head. The more time she spends at the shrine, the more she realizes that Reimu doesn't spend her entire life fighting youkai. It's kind of disappointing, really.<p>

Sunshine is dragged back into the conversation when Reimu leans over the table to look at her paper. "Hmm, what are you drawing?"

The picture is Sunshine's most ambitious drawing yet. It's a picture of a rocket ship that Marisa told her about riding in once when she helped to invade the moon. Sunshine thinks it would be fun to visit the moon some day, because apparently there's a lake that's bigger than Gensokyo. The moon also has a lot of rabbits on it, which can only be a good thing in her opinion. So, she's drawn herself and her parents, standing outside the rocket and surrounded by bunnies next to the sea. Or started to, at least. So far she only has the rocket, herself, and a few bunnies. She studies the picture for a moment, and hesitates.

[A ROCKET] Sunshine writes, on a different piece of paper. [ON THE MOON.]

"Oh." Reimu says. "The one that me and your mom rode up there?"

[NO. A NEW ROCKET.]

Reimu cocks her head to the side. "You're not afraid to talk, are you? I won't hurt you..."

Sunshine meets her eyes and, reluctantly, mumbles, "Not afraid."

"She's uncomfortable with talking sometimes," Alice explains. "We let her write when she prefers to."

Sunshine almost wilts with relief at not having to give the explanation herself, but it's still a little embarrassing. Talking is hard. Alice has said that she's getting better at it, but she's not. Not nearly as quickly as she got better at most other things. Even when other people are patient with her, she feels clumsy when she tries saying more than a few words at once. At least when she writes, she can take her time to choose her words.

"Oh," Reimu says. "Well, that's okay too. I was just wondering. Still, if youkai could be as scared of me as she acts sometimes, my life would be way eas—"

Reimu comes to a complete stop mid-sentence, as a folded paper glides into the side of her head. Robbed of its momentum, the thing falls unceremoniously to the floor, while Reimu follows it back to its point of origin with her eyes. It's not exactly a difficult crime to solve, since Marisa is sitting at the far end of the table, with a small stack of Sunshine's paper in front of her and another piece already halfway folded. "What," Reimu says, "are you doing."

"Paper airplane," Marisa says. "I was tryin' to land it in front of Sunshine, but my aim was off. This place is so drafty, y'know?" The second paper airplane soon takes off, and manages to sail past the end of the table. Sunshine watches in amazement. After doing a loop, it drifts down to the floor, and she takes off after it, with Ichigo riding on her shoulder.

"Pretty cool, huh?" Marisa says.

Sunshine nods in response, then turns the airplane over in her hands for inspection. Up close, it just looks like normal paper, but that makes sense, she decides. Marisa's broom looks like a normal broom, and she makes that fly all the time.

As Marisa starts folding a third airplane, the unmistakable sound of a heavy load of coins being dropped into the donation box comes from outside, followed by a ring of the bell. Sunshine looks toward the closed door curiously, while her parents' eyes turn toward Reimu.

"Villagers really come up here for New Year's?"

"Well, it's only natural," Reimu says, sounding less confident than she probably intends to. "People want to get blessings to start the year off right."

"Mmhm." Marisa's tongue sticks out the corner of her mouth as she focuses on a perfect fold. "You're not gonna go personally thank 'em?"

"If I did something like that, I'd just come off as needy..."

"Uh-huh." Marisa finishes the third airplane and draws it back for a throw. Following it every centimeter with her eyes, Sunshine rises to standing, ready to chase it down. With a little snap of her forearm, Marisa sends the plane sailing gracefully out over the table. Sunshine tenses up, trying to predict its trajectory. After a few minor adjustments, she's poised right in front of it, her hands held up and ready to snatch it out of the air...

And then, barely half a meter from her face, the air splits into brief darkness, and the plane disappears. Before the hole in space is even closed, another one opens up above the table. The plane plummets out of it, flying straight down, and smacks into the top of Reimu's head.

"O-ow!" Reimu rubs sorely at the impact site. "Y-yukari!"

"Hmm?" The voice comes from the other side of the door, and Sunshine freezes as it opens. The lady outside is even taller than Alice, with very long blonde hair (like her parents!) and a puffy dress. "Did I do something?"

"Like there's anybody else around here who can do that kind of stuff."

"Well, happy new year to you too, Reimu." As the lady steps inside, Sunshine scoots around the table as casually as she can, then shrinks down behind it next to Alice. With a nudge, she urges Ichigo forward, and the doll takes up a defensive stance on the table in front of her. The lady still takes a seat across from her. "I'm afraid that I don't have a clue what you're talking about," she says with a teasing smile.

"Whatever. Shouldn't you be sleeping?"

"The boundary between one year and the next is an important one. I find it best to wake up for long enough to make sure that the transition goes smoothly," the woman says. Afterward, her eyes turn to Sunshine. "And who might you be?"

Sunshine sinks even further down behind the table, and Alice reaches down to loop an arm around her, pulling her in closer. She's left close enough to feel Alice's warmth through her clothes. It's a reassuring bit of familiarity, but it doesn't dispel her anxiety over the situation. She's nervous around strangers to begin with, but this one seems extra strange. Her eyes are violet; in a creepy way, not cute like Ichigo's. "This is our daughter, Sunshine," Alice says, then looks downward. "Sunshine, this is Yukari Yakumo. It's okay, she won't hurt you."

Reimu mutters something in response to that reassurance, and Yukari does her best to pretend not to notice. "Not somebody like you, at least," Yukari agrees. "With every child of a human and a youkai, Gensokyo's peace grows a little stronger."

Marisa idly smooths out a fourth airplane, trying a few experimental folds. "Is that what you tell guys when you're tryin' to pick 'em up?"

The comment goes completely over Sunshine's head, but that's not really her main concern, as Yukari leans closer and smiles at her. "Are you frightened of me?"

"Play nice, Yukari," Reimu says, keeping one eye on the youkai even as she sips tea.

"I don't have any intention of hurting her," Yukari says, then glances back to Sunshine. "Hmm, here. Would you like to see a magic trick?"

Sunshine eyes Yukari, but the woman is still smiling. It's reassuring enough to coax her to sit up a little straighter, and she hesitantly nods.

As Marisa tosses off her fourth paper airplane, with a low 'nyooooom' sound, Yukari reaches forward. It takes all of Sunshine's bravery to stay rooted to the spot as the woman touches her face, then pulls her hand back. Holding it out, she presents her empty, gloved palm. "I," she says, and closes her hands with a flourish. When she reopens them, there's another dark gap resting in her palm, and sticking out from it, a little pink-white nubbin. "Have your nose."

Sunshine stares at this for a second before she realizes what she's looking at. Owning a nose is kind of a recent development in her life, but she knows for sure that it's not supposed to be in some strange lady's hands. Patting her face, she finds that it is, in fact, lacking in the nose department. Her eyes go wide, and an anxious squeaking sound forces itself past her lips. Leaning forward, she reaches for it frantically.

"Hmm? Do you want it back?" Yukari says, easily raising her hand and playing keepaway with Sunshine's nose. "I don't know, I might keep it. It's cuter than my own, I have to admit."

"That's mine!"

"Now now. Haven't your parents taught you to share?"

"Yukari..." Reimu says testily. "Don't push my patience."

"Reimu," Yukari replies, as Sunshine crawls onto the table to reach for the nose. She tugs her hand back further. "I will have you know that it's very important to my continued beauty to—"

"G-give it back!" Sunshine shouts.

Without prompting, Ichigo rises to her feet. The tiny doll raises both arms in the air, and instantly, blasts out dozens of tiny, multicolored projectiles. In a hail of rainbow bullets, Yukari Yakumo falls to the floor.

* * *

><p>"It seems that I set her automated defense threshold too low," Alice says. "She's only supposed to react like that in the case of actual threats to Sunshine's health." Ichigo is now restrained in her lap, and the tiny doll is thrashing against her hands, looking like it's prepared to leap across the table and start beating Yukari as soon as it gets a chance.<p>

"It serves her right anyway," Reimu says, still sipping placidly at her tea.

In the corner, Marisa hasn't managed to say anything since the attack. She'd collapsed on top of a paper airplane, laughing hysterically, and the rumpled corner of the poor thing is still sticking out from under her elbow. Sunshine isn't sure what's so funny, but she feels a little better now. Her nose is safely back on her face, but just in case, she has one hand constantly shielding it at all times. Despite her defeat, Yukari seems to be in good spirits too, but Sunshine is pleased to note that she looks a little worse for the wear—her hat got knocked off by the barrage, and her hair looks messier in the aftermath of falling to the floor. It was kind of fun, actually. Sunshine wonders if that's what fights normally look like.

"Now that I've been punished for my sins, I hope that we can be friends," Yukari says. When Sunshine only glares in response, she continues, "I'll make a note not to tangle with you in the future. I can see that your doll is quite the bodyguard."

"I don't think she wants to talk to you," Reimu says. There's just a hint of smugness in her voice.

"S-sure you wanna risk gettin' your butt kicked by a doll again?" Marisa manages to gasp out between laughter, before immediately collapsing back to the table.

Yukari takes the taunts with calm grace. "If your doll was willing to defend you so viciously, she must really like you."

That finally strikes a chord with Sunshine, and she glances from Yukari to the still-thrashing Ichigo. Her paper is out of reach, so she has to settle for mumbling, "Do you think so?"

"I'm certain," Yukari says. "What is her name?"

"Ichigo..."

"Hmm. I see. 'Ichigo'… do you like strawberries?" When Sunshine gives a hesitant nod, Yukari cups her hands together again. This time, when she holds one out, there's a plump, ripe little strawberry sitting in her palm. "... would you like a peace offering?"

Sunshine squints suspiciously at the strawberry, but it looks real enough. She still keeps her nose covered with one hand as she reaches for it, only to have Yukari pull it back at the last second. "But first: Reimu, could I borrow three cups?"

"Are you really going to keep doing this?"

"It will end nicely this time, I promise," Yukari says, nudging her closed fist back away from Sunshine's grasping hands again.

"... I guess it's not my problem if the doll beats you up again," Reimu says, and turns around to pull a few cups off a shelf. "Just try not to break these. Suika already broke half the set the last time she was here."

"Mmh. Of course." Once Reimu sits the cups down, Yukari scoots them closer to herself, and Sunshine reluctantly stops reaching for the strawberry. Even Marisa manages to calm down to lean forward and observe. Yukari lines the cups up in front of herself, then holds the strawberry up for display before hiding it beneath a cup. "Have you memorized which one it's under?"

This is a very strange game, in Sunshine's opinion, but it's an easy question. The three cups look nothing alike. Two of them are traditional yunomi from a matched pair, but with coloration and wear that makes them easy to tell apart. The other one, the one that Yukari hid the strawberry under, is an entirely different kind of cup, a teacup with a handle. She nods.

"Good. Try to remember which one it is," Yukari says, and starts shuffling the cups around each other in place. Even though Sunshine knows that the cup with the strawberry is the only one that looks different, she follows it with her eyes just in case. Once the cups have orbited each other half a dozen times, Yukari stops and raises her hands away from them. "Do you know which one has the strawberry? If you find it, it's yours."

Sunshine finds herself smiling as she leans forward. With such an easy game, she can't fail. She taps the teacup, and her wooden finger makes a soft click against the glass..

"Hmm, are you sure that that's the one?" Yukari says, with an impenetrable poker face. "You can rethink your answer if you want." When Sunshine doesn't budge, she continues. "Very well. Let's see if you're right." Reaching down, she grabs the cup by its base, gives it a little twist just to raise the anticipation, and jerks it up. There's nothing under it. "Hmm, too bad."

Sunshine's eyes go wide. Furious, she grabs the cup and checks inside of it, but sure enough, it's empty. "S-she's cheating!" she squeaks, and looks to her parents for support.

"Really, Yukari, don't you think you've done enough?" Alice says, giving Sunshine a reassuring pat on the back.

"Oh, very well. Maybe I didn't explain the rules clearly." Yukari pushes the two remaining cups forward and next to each other. "Would you like another pick?"

It helps placate Sunshine, just a little. She puts much more thought into it this time, though, studying both cups with a look of intense concentration on her face. She _knows_ that the strawberry was under the teacup, though. After much deliberation, she decides to take things into her own hands, reaching out and yanking one of the cups into the air.

There's nothing beneath it. "You must have very bad luck," Yukari says. Pushing the last cup forward, she offers, "One last try?"

Sunshine glares at the cup, but it's really the only choice left. She's still more cautious as she reaches out, lifts it up, and finds... nothing. A tremble of moral outrage runs through her, and she glares up at Yukari.

"Well, hmm. Let's check again, shall we?" Lifting the third cup, she upends it and gives it a few shakes. "Nothing there..."

"I have to wonder if you're this sadistic with Chen, too," Alice says.

Yukari ignores the statement and lifts the second cup. After shaking it a few times, she taps the bottom for good measure. "Nothing..."

"Y'know, Sunshine, if you wanna punch her, your mom and I will back ya up," Marisa says.

"It isn't entirely uncalled for," Alice agrees.

Sunshine's attention is focused on the last cup, though. The teacup, the one that she chose first. Yukari lifts it up and makes a show of inspecting the inside. "Hmm. What's this?" she says. Turning the cup over, she lowers it to the table again, then gives it a few minute side-to-side adjustments. Sunshine leans forward, gripping the edge of the table, as Yukari rests both hands atop the cup. Dramatically, she lifts it up, and strawberries pour out. Dozens of them, tumbling down over each other and rolling across the table. Sunshine snatches one up, but it's not really necessary. By the time that it finishes, the pile of strawberries on the table is more than Sunshine has seen in one place in her entire life. Yukari gives the cup a final shake, and one last berry falls to rest on top of the heap. "Well," she says. "It seems that you were right the first time."

Sunshine nods quickly, but her attention is still on the berries. She takes a giant bite of the one in her hand, and the rewarding, sweet taste assures her that this part isn't any kind of trick.

"Just imagine how happy she'd be if you hadn't teased her for an hour first..." Reimu says, and claims a small pile of strawberries for herself.

"You have to allow a youkai _some_ mischief during the winter. I'll be asleep and out of your hair for another month or two soon."

"Not soon enough..."

"Sunshine," Alice says. "Make sure to thank Yukari for the present. … even if she could have been a bit nicer about it, herself."

Sunshine is already well into her second strawberry, with juice running down her chin. Under the circumstances, she feels even less comfortable with talking than usual. She still manages to reach over with her free hand, grab her pen, and write, [THANKS].

* * *

><p>When the three leave the Hakurei shrine, it's barely early afternoon, but Sunshine is already tired. Normally, she'd be awake until the sun goes down, especially with a sugary snack for lunch, but today was different. Between the excitement of building Ichigo and the trip to the shrine, she's exhausted, and only the cold air keeps her from napping against Marisa's back on the flight home. She's already rubbing her eyes by the time the three walk into the cottage, and as Alice packs the small basket of strawberries off toward the kitchen, Marisa reaches down to ruffle her hair. "Think you're gonna get whatever you prayed for?"<p>

Sunshine looks up blearily, and it takes a moment for her to remember. In all the excitement of the visit, she'd forgotten about the prayer. After some consideration, she nods. She's probably due for an adventure any day now, at this rate.

"Heh. Good. Do you need a nap?"

"Mmhm..."

"Want me to tuck ya in?"

Sunshine glances toward her bedroom thoughtfully, then shakes her head. Normally, she'd say yes, but today is special. "I need to, um. Do something."

"Big plans already, huh? Sure. Just remember to put your paper an' stuff away before you sleep," Marisa says, bending down to give Sunshine a kiss on the forehead. "If you make a mess, your mom will kick my butt."

"Okay." With Ichigo hovering along behind her, Sunshine toddles off to her room. Once her things are put away and the door is closed behind her, she sits Ichigo on the edge of the bed, then kneels down in front of her. "Do you feel smart yet?" Ichigo doesn't budge in response, and she takes that as her answer. "Um. That's okay. It took me a long time." She's disappointed, but she tries not to let it get to her. After leaning forward to kiss the doll on the forehead, she tucks her in under the sheets, then slides into bed next to her. Within minutes, Sunshine is fast asleep.


End file.
